Repair head for heddles



June 30, 1953 w. H. THORPE 2,643,683

REPAIR HEAD FOR HEDDLES Filed April 18, 1951 L12 .Eg'y. .9. ,ZZylfl. 12.11. 15 .12.

INVENTOR;

Afforngg.

Patented June 30, 1953 REPAIR HEAD FOR HEDDLES -William H. Thorpe,Philadelphia, Pa.,v assignor to. Walker Manufacturing Company,Philadelphia, Pa.

Application April 18, 1951,, Serial No. 221,579 3 Claims. (01.. 13.9-96)plication being a continuation-in-part of'Serial No. 154,347, filedApril 6, 1950.

Heddles, like many other forms of fast moving mechanism, particularlywhen characterized by reciprocatory motion, and even more so when thatmotion is substantially if not 'fully vertical, frequently wear throughand break especially at some point of the end loop or eyes, and mostfrequently at the base of the upper eye, due to the force of gravityduring each downward motion being added to the inherent inertia of theheddle,

as its movement is suddenly arrested preparatory to movement in theopposite direction.

Such wear is most pronounced where the sides of the upper eye inparticular are in constant engagement with the heddle-supporting bars,and at least in some positions encounter any inserting the abbreviatedend between bendable portions of the repair head, and then bending saidlast-mentioned portions across the said dovetail section, and flatteningthem tightly and b indingly against the depending base or body portionof said head, and thereby securing and positively locking in place theadjacent heddle end, slipping the loop or hooked end portion of saidhead over the heddle bar, and starting the loom.

A further object is to provide a modified form of repair head, thatessentially comprises a barreceivingportion and a depending body portionhaving'a transversely extending and upwardly directed shoulder, and afreely extending narrow tongue that is adapted to be inserted through anaperture in a heddle, and'then bent upwardly in parallel and closerelation with said body portion, and thence'over said shoulder andclosely against the opposite side of said body portion, to preventseparation of such heddle from the repair head.

Still another object is to provide a repair head that comprises abar-engageable portion and a hooks, studs and/or slide hooks that may bepresent for the purpose of operatively supporting the heddle bars withrespect to the upper and lower frame rails, or with respect to anauxiliary bar that is frequently interposed between the heddle bar andthe neighboring rail.

Heretofore, whena heddle bar has broken, it has been necessary to stopthe loom, break the warp end, remove it from the central eye of theheddle and lay it on the beam, then separate the warp so that theunbroken end eye can be removed either by twisting or cutting, which actof itself can cause other broken ends and/or smudging or damaging of thewarp, then slipping the repair heddle over the heddle bars, which ofitself is difiicult to do in the middle of a set of threaded heddles,then reinsert the warp end through the central eye of the newreplacement heddle and tie the ends together, and finally adjust thewarp and start the loom, an operation for which even an expert usuallyrequires about five minutes.

By contrast, an object of the invention is to provide what may be termedand is hereinafter referred to as a lock-on repair head, the 7 use ofwhich in the replacement of a broken heddle involves merely stopping theloom, breaking or cutting ofi with pliers or cutters the broken end loopslightly either at or slightly above the bottom of .the loop or eye, soas to thereby leave a short dovetail terminal section,

depending body portion, from which latter depend a pairof spacedtongues, in combination with the upper abbreviated dovetail portion of aheddle, such as hereinbefore described, positioned between the uppersupporting portions of said tongues, said tongues being bendableupwardly and preferably diagonally towards each other, and thence overand reversely around said shoulder and closely against the oppositesurface of said body portion, so as to thereby secure said heddle tosaid head.

With the objects thus briefly set forth, the invention comprises furtherdetails of construction and operation, which are hereinafter fullybrought out in the following description, when read in conjunction withthe accompanying drawings, in which Fig. 1 is an elevational View of arepresentative type of standard steel heddle having transversely widenedeye or loop end portions; Fig. 2 is a fragmentary elevational view ofthe upper end portion of said heddle, showing the approximate point orlevel at which the opposite sides of the eye or loop end are preferablyremoved after some part of such eye has broken;.

Fig. 3 shows a blank from which one form of the improved repair head isbent and comprising an initially freely extending narrow tongue; Fig. 4

vis an elevational view of the same operatively attached to theabbreviated end of a broken heddle; Fig. 5 is a section on the line 5-5of Fig. 4; Fig. 6 is an elevational view of a modified form of blank;Fig. '7 is a similar view including the abbreviated upper dovetail endof a broken heddle; Fig. 8 shows the unitary relation of said repairhead and said heddle after a pair of angular portions of the former havebeen bent towards each other across the former; Fig. 9 is an elevationalview of a further modified form of such repair head comprising a pair ofinitially depending tongues; Fig. 10 is a similar view showing also theabbreviated upper dovetail end of a broken heddle; Fig. 11 shows saidhead and said heddle after said tongues have been bent diagonallyupwardly so as to secure said heddle to said repair head; and Fig. 12 isa section on the line l2-l2 of Fig. 11.

Referring to Figs. 1 and 2, an ordinary well known type of heddle isshown as comprising the usual shank I, having a substantially centrallypositioned warp-passing eye 2, while its opposite upper and lower endsare provided with vertically elongated eyes or loops 3 and 4 for thereception of the usual supporting bars (Fig. 5) Incidental to the act ofpunching out said end loops, those portions of the initial blankadjacent to and upon the opposite ends thereof are widened by swagingdies or tools, that result in and leave behind them thinned areas '6,that decrease in thickness towards each other, and which in surface areahave a general shape that is substantially midway between a U and a V,or in other words the lateral edges of each such area converge somewhatas the sides of a V, while as they approach each other they merge intothe curve of a U. The result resembles a parabolic curve, and as theformation of such swaged areas results in a displacement and flow orpushing of the metal laterally outwardly in opposite directions, thelaterally opposite outside edges of the heddle adjacent thereto becomedivergently dovetailed or wedge-shaped as indicated at 1.

Having the course of ordinary use of the heddle in weaving, the sides ofthe upper loop in particular tend to wear narrow and in time break ashereinbeiore described, and such breakage has heretofore required theremoval and replacement of the entire heddle, with the resultant lossesin time and income also hereinbefore referred to. However. the presentinvention merely involves the cutting off of the narrow sides of theaffected loop, as nearly as possible at or but slightly above the exactbase of the loop, at the level indicated by the line 8' (Fig. 1) belowwhich (considering the upper end of the heddle) a substantial portion ofthe divergent edges 1 are located. This divergence has been foundadequate to support the major portion of the heddle by means of therepair head that comprises the present invention, said diverging edgesin effect forming dovetail shoulders almost as positive in function asthough they were in alignment and at right angles to the axis of theheddle.

Referring to Figs. 3, 4 and 5, one embodiment of the invention is shownas comprising an uninterrupted side 8, that terminates upwardly in ahooked portion 9 and a reversely directed free end portion l6.Downwardly the side 8 merges into a transversely broadened body portionll, that provides an upwardly directed horizontal shoulder 12, whilefrom the under edge of said body portion projects a tongue 13, that inlength is substantially equal to twice the height of said body portion,and in width is such that it can be inserted through an aperture l4,punched through the abbreviated end portion of a broken heddle. In usingthis repair head, the broken end eye or loop of a heddle l is firstremoved as hereinbefore described, whether an ordinary hedi from saidhead.

4 dle or a straight-sided heddle of the "silk type is involved, and ahole punched (or drilled) through the same, whereupon the end of thetongue I 3' is inserted and then bent reversely upwardly, then over saidshoulder and again reversely into parallelism and tightly bindingrelation with the 0pposite side of said body portion.

Referring to Figs. 6, 7 and 8, a repair head blank is here shown asclosely resembling that illustrated in Figs. 3, 4 and 5, and comprisinga side portion l5, that terminates upwardly in a hooked portion l6 and areversely directed free end portion [1. Downwardly the side [5 mergesinto a transversely broadened body portion [8, that provides an upwardlydirected horizontal shoulder l9. Said body portion may, but in thecase-of very thin sheet metal need not, be scored along upwardlydivergent lines 20, but whether said body portion is or is not thusscored, to attach and secure it to the abbreviated end of a heddlehaving a dovetail end 2|, as indicated in Figs. 2, 4 and '7, such heddleend is laid against said repair head body (Fig. '7) and the oppositelypositioned corner portions 22 of the latter are folded inwardly towardseach other and tightly, so as to engage the narrowest dimension of saiddovetail end portion of the heddle, and thus prevent its separationlongitudinally downwardly Such a construction may require a slightlyheavier gauge of sheet metal for the repair head, in order to insuresaid corner portions 22 from accidentally opening and permitting theescape of the heddle end from between them, but it will be realized thatwith the united heddle and repair head assembly of increased thicknessover that of the original heddle alone in a multi-heddle frame, theresultant compression also tends to prevent an unfolding of said cornerportions.

Referring to Figs. 9, 10, 11 and 12, a repair head blank is here shownas comprising an uninterrupted side 23, that terminates upwardly in ahooked portion 24 and a reversely directed free end portion 25.Downwardly the side 23 merges into a transversely broadened body portion26, that provides an upwardly directed shoulder, that is formed of apair of angularly related portions 27 and 28 of unequal length, theshorter being adjacent to the side 23. Downwardly said body portion isprovided with a pair of spaced tapering fingers or tongues 29 and 30,said body portion at the junction of said tongues being preferablyscored at 3| along lines parallel with the respective shoulder edgeportions 21 and 28. To unitarily join the dovetail abbreviated endportion 32 of a heddle to this form of repair head, the

.former is laid against the latter in the relative positions indicatedin Figs. 10, whereupon the tongues 28 and 30 are bent diagonallyupwardly towards each other, as defined by the score lines 3| ifpresent, and then reversely bent over and divergently downwardly uponthe opposite side of the body portion of said repair head, as indicatedby Figs. 11 and 12. This in effect produces a union similar to that ofthe form shown in Figs. 6, 7 and 8, and is even more unyielding againstaccidental separation by reason of the reverse bending of the tongues tothe rear of the body portion of said repair head, as described.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim and desire to protectby Letters Patent of the United States is:

l. The combination of a heddle shank provided with an aperture, with arepair head comprising a portion adapted to receive a heddle bar, a body5 portion having an upwardly directed shoulder, and. an initiallydepending tongue extending through said aperture, said tongue being bentreversely into parallelism with said body portion and its free end beingreversely bent over said shoulder.

2. A repair head for heddles, comprising an open end portion adapted toreceive a heddle bar, a body portion having an upwardly directedshoulder, and an initially depending tongue adapted to extend through anaperture in a heddle, and thereafter being bent into parallelism withsaid body portion and reversely over said shoulder.

3. A repair head for heddles, comprising an end portion adapted to atleast partially surround a heddle bar, a body portion having an upwardlydirected shoulder, and an initially-depending tongue adapted to extendthrough an aperture in a heddle, and thereafter being bent intoparallelism with said body portion.

WILLIAM H. THORPE.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS

